Ireland Vacation - Drive to Dublin and Ferry home

We checked out of the B&B this morning and went for a walk on the path the runs along the top of the cliffs above Tramore.

During breakfast I mentioned to the owner that I really liked Neolithic items (mounds, dolmens, etc) and other ruins. He gave us a brochure that he point together that gave directions to various Neolithic items and ruins in the area. Most of them are on private property so we couldn't walk up to them but it was pretty amazing to think that you could have something that old on your land.

We then made out way to the N9 to drive back up to Dublin. Our first stop of the day was Jeropint Abbey near Kilkenny. We walked around the abbey for a while. The abbey is famous in Ireland for the stone carvings that are on the columns that run around the courtyard. The abbey was built around 1160 by the King of Ossory, Donal MacGillapatrick, for the Benedictine monks. In 1180 it was taken over by Cistercian monks from Baltinglass Abbey.

We got back in the car and made our way to Carlow. Near Carlow is a famous burial chamber called Browne's Hill Dolmen. It dates from 2500BC and it's capstone weighs 150 tons. The area around and beneath the dolmen has never been excavated.

Our last stop of the day was about 30 minutes north of Dublin near Drogheda. The monastery of Monasterboice dates back to the 500s. However all the is known about the life there is a list of the abbots. Monasterboice is famous now for the amazing Irish High Crosses that lie among the gravestones of the current day cemetary on the site.

It was a long day in the car and we finally got a taste of the Dublin traffic around the ring road. We made our way back to the B&B that we stayed in earlier in Dublin for our last night there. We went to a local restaurant for dinner and just went back to our room.

The ferry ride back was very different than the trip over. Our ship this time was the Ulysses the world's largest car ferry. The trip took about twice as long and, since the ship travelled much more slowly, the time on the observation deck was pleasant.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful. Overall it was a nice vacation and one that we'll remember for a long time. If you don't have access to the pictues on snapfish leave a comment here.

Ireland Vacation - Waterford Area

We ate breakfast and set out for the day. Our first stop was to the Waterford Crystal factory. We took a tour of the manufacturing area. We were able to see all steps of the process: making the wood molds for the special pieces, the firing of the ingredients, and the shaping/blowing of the crystal. Later in the tour we saw where they marked the crystal before it was cut and etched. It takes 8 years to become a Master Carver and 10 years to become a Master Engraver, those that work on the special pieces. About 17% of the pieces are rejected along the way. They are then smashed and sent back to the ovens to be remelted and the process begins again. After the tour we went to the shop where it was hard to restrain ourselves. One piece for sale was Cinderella's Carriage that was about 18 inches long. It sold for 50,000 Euros.

We ate lunch at the visitors center and then made our second attempt at finding the Hook Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse is the oldest continuously operated lighthouse in the world. It is fully automated now. It dates back to the 800's when monks in a nearby monestary first contructed the lighthouse. The lighthouse is amazing. It sits on limestone rocks that contain 150 million year old fossils. We were able to climb amongst the rocks and found a number of small fossils. There was one fossil that was about 9 inches long but it was stuck in the huge rocks. We took at tour of the lighthouse and were able to climb up to the observation deck that is just below the light. The view was great and the sky was clear.

After leaving the lighthouse we drove along the Hook Peninsula to visit the few remains of the Hook Church where the lighthouse monks lived while not at the lighthouse itself. We also went to the village of Slade where there are the remains of a small castle.

We then drove along the Ring of Hook, a picturesque drive, to the village of Ballyhack where we took a little car ferry to Waterford. It was a great little 5 minute ferry. We then made our way back to Tramore where we had fish & chips on the beach for dinner.

Ireland Vacation - Heading to Waterford

After breakfast we left the Dublin B&B and got our first real experience of roads in the Dublin and in the rest of the country. It wasn't bad at all navigating through the city. We got on the N11 (National Road) to head down the eastern coast of Ireland to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains. Glendalough is the site of a monastery founded by St Kevin in the sixth century. The Gaelic spelling, Gleann Dá Locha , means "The valley of the two lakes." It was a very tranquill location. There were remains of a number of small churches and one very well preserved round tower.

We left Glendalough and made our way back to the N11 to continue to drive down to Waterford. Even though the N11 is one of the main rounds in Ireland it was still only 1 lane in each direction for most of the way. Once we reached the south coast area I wanted to try and make it to tour an old lighthouse. Unfortunately we were unable to find it. We drove down many small unmarked roads but couldn't find our way. We were using the Ordnance Survey maps of Ireland. The maps were almost *too* acurate. We finally gave up and made our way to the B&B that we were going to stay in Tramore, a city south of Waterford on the coast. We got settled and then went out to dinner. After dinner we went down to the beach and walked along the sand and rocks picking up shells.

It was a perfect end of the day.